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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Return of the desi cotton by Vivek Deshpande

Return of the desi cotton by Vivek Deshpande

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published Published on Jan 30, 2011   modified Modified on Jan 30, 2011

Indian cotton was once infamously plundered by the British to benefit their finished goods economy back home. The world-famous Dhaka muslin were woven with desi cotton. But while the foreign regime kept the Indian cotton alive, albeit for its own gains, independent India presided over its complete decimation.

However, after about 50 years of domination of American cotton that had edged out the desi varieties for long, the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) has now embarked on a revival of India’s own cotton varieties.

Reason: These varieties had come to stay in India after developing resistance to drought, pests and water-logging, and have been researched much over the last decade to be added with qualities to match American cotton.

A brainstorming session of top ICAR officials at the Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR) said it was about time the desi varieties were brought back.

“We can reintroduce our own varieties with integration of Bt into it, after conducting field trials,” said CICR director Keshav Kranthi.

ICAR Director General S Ayyappan, Deputy Director General (Crop Science) Swapan Kumar Dutta, National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS & LUP) D-G Dipak Sarkar, Chairman, Agricultural cientists Recruitment Board C D Mayee and Project Coordinator, All India Cotton Improvement Project N Gopalakrishnan participated in the special session on “Indian Cotton — What Next” during the Standing Committee review meeting of Technology Mission on Cotton Mini Mission-1 (TMC-MM-1) here earlier this week.

Kranthi said: “Desi cotton (gossypium arboreum) varieties were grown on about 98 per cent area around 1947 and the American cotton (gossypium hirsutum) on just around two. The situation is now exactly the reverse.

“Till the advent of Bt cotton, the desi cotton was being grown on about 27 per cent area in various parts of the country, like Gujarat and north India. The American cotton grew mainly on account of its larger staple length, which was the demand of mechanised cloth making that requires stronger fabric. But nowadays even short-staple cotton is in great demand, particularly in fabrics like denim and upholstery. Also, it fetches price on par with the long-staple one. So, why not promote desi varieties, which had come to stay in India after developing resistance to indigenous conditions like drought, water-logging and local pests?”

Mayee, a former CICR director, says: “Desi cotton has improved significantly over the past decade in terms of fibre quality and productivity. It is able to withstand the rigours of nature like drought and pests and also has lesser cost of production. So, the idea is to increase the area under desi cotton, both varieties and hybrids, to up to 20 per cent during the next Five Year Plan.”

ICAR is ready to reinvest its faiths in desi varieties like RG8, which gives a good crop in both irrigated (about 40-50 quintals per hectare) and rainfed conditions (20 q/ha).

“And it is not that the desi cotton doesn’t give a good staple. Over the last few years, Indian scientists have developed desi varieties like Parbhani Turab to give a good staple length (26-27 mm) and strength (22 gm/tex), which is on par with the American variety,” says Kranthi,

“There are varieties that can be grown in high density sowing, thereby giving more production,” he adds.

Mayee says: “One of the main problems with desi cotton has been picking since the boll hangs low. So, low-picking machines are under research.”

“The idea is to reorient our breeders and scientists to take up the cause of Desi cotton,” Kranthi says.

Spinning its way

The British introduced American cotton species Gossypium hirsutum, that had relatively long and strong fibre, in India in the year 1790 to cater to machine spinning. The American varieties required more fertilizers and were highly susceptible to drought, water logging, diseases and insect pests, as a result of which they could occupy only 3 per cent of the total area under cotton cultivation in India by 1947. Thus, at the time of Independence, 97 per cent of the area in India was under desi cotton varieties.

Later, Indian scientists intensified efforts to breed American cotton for Indian conditions and by 1965, American variety was grown in 40 per cent of the total area under cotton cultivation. The remaining area was under desi varieties.

By 2002, when Bt cotton was introduced, desi cotton acreage was further reduced to 25 per cent. At the moment, the area under desi cotton is estimated at 3 per cent in the country.

Evidence indicates that cotton has been in use in the country for over 5,000 years and India alone mastered the art of weaving cloth from cotton. Other world civilisations are known to have used other fibre sources such as wool and flax in Egypt, West Asia and Europe and silk in China.The cotton cloth recovered from relics of the Harappa civilisation (2300-1750 BC) were found to have been produced by sophisticated textile craftsmanship. Subsequently, the beauty of Indian cotton and cotton textiles was described by historians from time to time.

Freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose has anecdotes on India’s cotton history in 1938. To quote one: “Arab traveller Suleiman wrote in the 9th century that cotton fabrics in Rahmi (now, Bangladesh) are so fine and delicate that they pass through a signet ring”.

The Indian Express, 28 January, 2011, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/return-of-the-desi-cotton/743033/0


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